Court ruling determines Russian Boar as 'Invasive Species'

MARQUETTE — A local businessman will have to destroy some animals on his property due to a state regulation regarding Invasive Species.

In a ruling by Marquette County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Solka, Greg Johnson, the owner of Bear Mountain, LLC, will have to destroy the Russian Boars on his property by October 1st.

Johnson and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources have been in a legal battle the last five years.

The DNR says that the Russian Boar is an Invasive Specie, which makes having them even on private property illegal.

“They can do significant damage to natural resources,” said Ed Golder, Public Information Officer for the DNR. “They root up farm fields, they damage crops, they waddle in rivers so that they can destroy aquatic habitat. They can even damage ground nesting birds.”

ABC 10 has made several attempts to contact Johnson, who has yet to return our messages and phone calls. The Invasive Species regulation was put in place in 2011.

According to Golder, the DNR did not start actively enforcing it until the following year.